If Only They Had Breathed
by only.a.small.fish
Summary: Faced with a task that wrenches open his heart, Legolas is terrified. Just a very tragic drabble that makes no sense, I hope you like it. WARNING: Major Character Death.


**AN:** **Heyo, this is just a little thingie I wrote last night at 4 in the morning. Just a drabble really. It was supposed to end in a really cute way but then Aragorn happened and now I'm sitting in a corner and contemplating what a horrible pile of shit I am.**

 **Enjoy :)**

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"Legolas, you must."  
"I WON'T!" Legolas sobbed. The elf stared at him with eyes wide with terror framed by lank ribbons of mussed hair normally so well groomed. His beautiful elven face was wrought with despair and the sodden wetness of tears. The hand that held the dagger hung limply at his side.  
Aragorn looked at him with a tender expression.  
"My love, it is the only way."  
Legolas shook his head in denial, the knotted strands of his hair swinging about his grief stricken face.  
"Please Legolas! You must! It is the only way to save our people!" Aragorn cried, struggling against the chains that bound him. Legolas shook his head once more, but this time raised the dagger to his own throat. Aragorn caught his breath.  
"No! Legolas!" He panicked "It is not you they want! Your death will be in vain!"  
"I cannot live without you. I shall perish either way." Legolas choked, the blade in his hand shaking with the terror he felt within him.  
"Then take my life first! At least then you shall have time to rethink." Aragorn tried desperately.  
"I cannot."  
Aragorn felt hot tears beginning to flow from his eyes.  
"Please Legolas, I beg you!"  
Legolas shook his head. Why must he be so goddamn stubborn?!  
"I could not possibly bring myself to take the last breath from the lips of the one I love." Legolas said, his eyes glistening with despair. Aragorn clenched his eyes shut as more tears spilled down his cheeks.  
"KILL ME!" He screamed suddenly, his eyes snapping open with a fire burning within. Legolas stumbled backwards in fear, clutching the dagger to his heaving chest.  
"Do it! End it! You have the power love, you have the strength!" Aragorn sobbed, tugging fiercely at his bonds so that they cut at his wrists. Legolas stared at him in fear, his face plastered with silent tears. His entire being quivering like a leaf, he stepped forwards slowly, holding the blade aloft in front of him.  
He hesitated with the tip only centimetres away from the body of his beloved.  
"I can't." He whispered, looking directly into the eyes of the goddamned mortal he loved so much. Aragorn returned his determined stared but suddenly he felt a weight on the blade and he saw a burning pain in Aragorn's eyes. He felt a sickening wetness on his hands as he looked down to see the dagger impaled in Aragorn's spleen.  
"NO!" His scream was blood curdling and full of despair as he stared down in horror at the red elixir that once brought Aragorn life now spilling over his hands. He looked frantically up into Aragorn's face, raising his blood stained hands shakily to clasp his cheeks.  
"H-how could you do this?" He asked, his voice quivering. Aragorn smiled sadly.  
"It is my duty beloved. To both you and the peoples of Middle Earth." He croaked, his voice laced with agony.  
"But how could you be so horrible?!" Legolas demand, seizing his shoulders sharply. "There could have been another way!" His eyes were full of a mixture of anger and sadness.  
"How could you leave me?" He faltered, bowing his head to rest it upon Aragorn's chest.  
"Because I love you meleth nin." Aragorn murmured. "And you must live on."  
Legolas looked up and into his face. After a moment he realized that there was no light in the stormy grey eyes and that there seemed to be no breath coming from the stone cold lips.  
"No." He whispered. "No!" His voice was quickly rising to a panicked shriek. He clutched the lifeless body of his beloved to his chest and let out a scream of anguish.  
With shaking fingers, he took the dagger that had killed his heart from the one who held it and without hesitation, plunged it deep into his gut, pushing the blade in up to the hilt. His eyes widened in pain and with his next breath came a wave of blood. Coughing and sputtering, he sobbed hopelessly onto the shoulder of the lifeless ranger.  
He sat there for what seemed like eons before his body gave in and he drifted into a sleep that he was not sure of waking from.  
That is how Gimli found them. Entwined in a last embrace, surrounded by a shimmering pool of crimson liquid that they could have bound.  
If only they had breathed.


End file.
